Anyone who has read my profile knows I’m amazing. Even
saintly. For someone who is always right, it came as a shock to read reviews
for books I either loved or hated and find out how my perfect view wasn’t
universally shared. Sometimes, I loved a character and others didn’t. Or I
hated someone and others found them to be perfection. It was an eye opening
experience. Let’s explore lessons learned by beginning with a popular love interest these days.
Assholes
Sure, we love when pirates rape and pillage. It’s
why there are so many likes on the Somali Pirates' Facebook page. In our average non-pirate lives, we can’t stand assholes though. The guy who dumps work on you then takes credit
for your efforts. The guy who stalks you and forces you get a restraining order.
The guy who killed your neighbor because you weren’t home. These assholes are
bad in real life. Yet, in fiction, they are sexy gold.
As an urban fantasy reader, the king of the assholes
is Jericho Barrons. Rapist, murderer, feaster on the human flesh, misogynistic
pig/hottest fucker in fiction. Let’s be honest, most new urban fantasy guys
aren’t ripping off Adam, Curran, or Bones. They all want to be Barrons.
Eventually, I lost interest in Barrons (mainly when he
turned whiny emo in books four and five), but I never lost interest because he
was too big of an asshole. Imagine my shock when I read reviews for the very first book
where Barrons wasn’t even a full on asshole yet. These reviews claimed he was
too big of a jerk. Unlikable. Unsexy. Many of the reviewers were unwilling to
read on because they couldn’t stand him. He was even dubbed Le Douche. Ah, I
like nicknames too.
This is why negative reviews are helpful especially for
books we love as writers. The different perspectives on the same characters
we love can help us imagine how readers might view our creations. We see
alpha while others see asshole. If you want to keep your guy on the alpha side of
the line, reading negative reviews like these can help you avoid turning your
hot guy into an unlovable loser. If you want to make your stud into an asshole,
you'll know how far to push him into evil dick territory.
Bitch
A book I really hated is considered an example of great
urban fantasy. I won’t name it, but I’ll name the characters and let you do the
rest. For me, Clay clearly falls into asshole territory, yet in this case
positive reviews helped me grasp why anyone would like the raping murdering misogynistic
pig/unsexy loser. See, how perceptions are tricky? Well, for this section let’s
talk about Clay’s victim/love.
I hate Elena. There are few fictional characters I would kill,
but she’s on the list. For me, Elena falls squarely into fucked up bitch
territory. Yet through reading reviews for this book, I saw how others felt her
bitchiness was a good quality. It made her endearing. Yeah, I didn’t get it, but let’s
jump to my fave UF chick.
In a negative review for the first Kate Daniels’ book, a
reader wasn’t able to connect with Kate who she described as a cold bitch. It’s
not about agreeing or disagreeing with a review. It’s all about seeing the same
characters from differing perspectives.
Writing a tough female is similar to writing an alpha male.
There is a fine line between tough and bitch. For one reader, the tough chick
that hides her pain can easily veer into an unsavory bitch. For another reader,
the same character can be the epitome of awesome. If you plan to write a tough woman as
your main character, it wouldn’t hurt to check out the negative reviews for
both those books with chicks you loved and those you hated. This could give you
an idea of how various readers might view your characters one day.
Weenie
I like writing nice guys. Whether it’s from overdosing on alpha
assholes or just wanting honorable men for my characters, I lean towards beta
men as love interests. Other writers clearly like a man who dominates the
MC. It’s preference and likely something we as writers don’t even notice. I
doubt a writer thinks, “I want my LI to treat my MC like crap and break her
down until she’s worthy of him.” I certainly don’t think, “I want to write a
weak guy.” Yet, where I see worthy equal, others might see weenie.
One of my favorite male characters is Shadow from American
Gods. I love Shadow’s passiveness. He’s the calm in the midst of the crazy
around him. I found this quality endearing.
Reading negative reviews for the book, I was surprised by the number of readers complaining about Shadow's passiveness. Looking back, it makes sense for others to view
him as a weenie. The line between honorable man and wuss is likely trickier
than with bitch and asshole. The visceral reaction to an asshole or bitch
makes them easier to spot. While readers rarely hate or love weenies, they'll
likely find them forgettable. No writer aims for forgettable when writing their
characters.
Though he's far from forgettable, I’ve even read complaints about Bones being too weak a love
interest. For some readers, the more powerful the female, the more alpha the
male needs to be. This isn’t something you as a writer need to agree with, but
it’s something you should consider when writing your love interests. At the
very least, it will prepare you for criticisms you could receive later about your
books.
Negative reviews have power because they often point out
problems other reviewers didn’t care enough about to mention. If you think a
book is simply okay, you won’t rant about all of the characters’ flaws. If you
love a book, you'll simply gush. If you hate the book enough to write an essay about
it, you'll provide all kinds of interesting perspectives. This is why
negative reviews are a treasure trove for writers. See how I started with
pirates and ended with treasure. Talk about coming full circle!
Coming Soon...Why I Read Negative Reviews Pt.6 – Her pussy
belonged to her HEA, yet his dong belonged to the world.
Lola and Jules McCormick grew up listening to rock music in
their family’s RV. They enjoy the classics with newer 80’s rock
metal thrown in. Here are the artists and songs that inspired me while writing
Shadowburbia.
